Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog

Come to Where the Cancer Is...

And now, just when you thought your children had successfully fought off the urge to adopt the most deadly of cancer-causing habits, comes this frustrating report from the trendiest lounges where only the hippest young adults, apparently also blessed with immortality, hang out:

"Hookah Bars Finding a Place in America"

I wonder if all those folks congregating in hookah bars to smoke the narghile water pipe would be as sanguine about their future if they knew what they were inhaling. Some of the delightful chemicals found in water pipe smoke include nicotine, "tar", carbon monoxide, chrysene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, anthracene and pyrene. One research paper concludes that "narghile smoke likely contains an abundance of several of the chemicals thought to be causal factors in the elevated incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease and addiction in cigarette smokers."

Even the website Tobacco.org has a summary of another disturbing research report: "Water-pipe (narghile) smoking: an emerging health risk behavior."

It's one thing to choose to smoke after being fully informed of the health risks of cigarettes, but only an idiot would take up water pipe smoking thinking that it is safer than traditional nicotine delivery systems.

Just remember - your friendly neighborhood oncologist is always available to assist those who chose to smoke all those years ago, and now are not feeling so hot.

Posted by Dr. Craig Hildreth | link | Comments (3) |

This morning RoseMary, my wife, and I were running errands. A cool looking Ferrari pulled up next to us. The driver was a very obese man with very unkempt hair. As I glanced at him, he picked his nose and ate it. Is booger eating good for you?

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (3) |

America's first Baby Boomer turns 60.

"For the nation, the baby boomers turning 60 is monumental because of all the issues of health care and Social Security and nursing homes,' she says."

Posted by shrinkette | link | Comments (0) |

Statutes of limitations

Statutes of limitations for malpractice cases in Wisconsin don't fully address injuries to developmentally disabled children, so a teenager who was injured at birth should still be allowed to sue his health care providers, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.

(This is, I guess, an established fact in the case).

The case could have broad implications in Wisconsin, where the state's medical malpractice environment is already in flux because of a state Supreme Court decision in July that threw out caps on pain and suffering damages to malpractice victims.

Health care providers fear Friday's decision will fuel more uncertainty, but advocates for plaintiffs downplayed the impact of the case.

Well, of course physicians and lawyers will have different opinions on the implications of this ruling. So, will obstetric protocols (meaning interpretation of electronic fetal heart rate monitoring, which was supposed to prevent most cases of cerebral palsy) prevent cerebral palsy, and therefore decrease the incidence of lawsuits filed for such cases? Please discuss...
Also posted at RedStateMoron.

Posted by RSM | link | Comments (1) |

Compassion amid horror, 2

A follow up to this story;

Baby Noor, a 3-month-old Iraqi girl in urgent need of medical attention to treat a potentially fatal birth defect, was resting early Friday at a U.S. base in western Baghdad before being flown to the United States for treatment.

Noor was scheduled to be flown out of Iraq on a U.S. military plane around mid-morning Friday to Kuwait and then on to Atlanta on a commercial flight, said CNN cameraman Joe Duran, who is embedded with the U.S. military. She will be accompanied by her father and grandmother, he said.

Via CNN.

Posted by RSM | link | Comments (0) |

Consumer Reports weighs in with an opinion

Via Medical News Today:

Consumer Reports has named cesarean section number three on its list of “12 Surgeries You May Be Better Off Without.” The recommendation, based on research at the non-profit Rand Corporation, encourages consumers to “check out safer alternatives” before having any of the 12 listed “invasive procedures.” (link).

The number three ranking of cesarean surgery appears just above episiotomy (#4) and hysterectomy (#5) and below angiography (#1) and angioplasty (#2). The recommendation from Consumer Reports Medical Guide comes on the heels of the Centers for Disease Control report showing that the primary cesarean rate in the United States has reached a historical high of 20.6 percent and an overall rate at 29.1 percent in 2004. The latest overall rate reported in Canada is 22.6 percent.

Posted by RSM | link | Comments (12) |

Another Vioxx situation?

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (0) |

Dr. Centor has a quiz. He's responding to a med student's post about "thinking like a doctor" (the entry is dated 12/25). Here's Dr. Centor:

As Anthony matures as a physician, he will face a major challenge. How do you as a physician explain diagnostic tests, treatments and diagnoses in terms that patients understand?

As physicians, we have an obligation to “break it down” into understandable terminology. I spend much time on rounds developing analogies of disease so that patients will understand what we mean.

Try it: translate his three medical terms into layman's language.

Posted by shrinkette | link | Comments (0) |

How to become invisible: scroll down for instructions. But some people become invisible without trying. And some must cope with invisible symptoms of their illness...

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"Exit 25." A father recalls his young son's meningitis. The diagnosis was not prompt.

Posted by shrinkette | link | Comments (2) |

"22nd Amendment Repealed - Ice Pick Sales Soar in Northeast U.S."

"Survivor Recounts Lobotomy at Age 12"

For the story behind the headline click the above link, which connects you to the illustrious and universally admired blog site where the post was composed - with the skillful hands of a master lobotomist, I might add.

Posted by Dr. Craig Hildreth | link | Comments (0) |

What do you do when you come across "expert" witness testimony that is so bogus that it makes you sick? Publicize it.

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (24) |

Ipod-related ailments: auditory and orthopedic.

Posted by shrinkette | link | Comments (0) |

Maria turns off the warmth. She has some good reasons for doing so.

Posted by shrinkette | link | Comments (0) |

I need an explanation.

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (0) |

She says, "Keep your eye on Oculir."

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (0) |

Don't let your kids drink and toddle.

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (0) |

It's About Time Somebody Stood Up for This Condition!

Finally, a news story with the courage to speak out about a totally unknown health crisis in America:

"Erectile Dysfuncion is Common, Treatable"

"Commonly referred to as ED [Ed? Couldn't they have picked a more obscure name, like Vercingetorix?], erectile dysfunction is the inability to achieve and sustain an erection."

"Because ED is a functional disorder and not a cosmetic condition [Har! Tell that to the spammers who keep sending email admonishing us to increase the size of our wienerschnitzel], insurance plans will often provide coverage for this condition particularly when associated with medical conditions."

Thank heavens we're getting this treatable condition out in the public eye! I can only hope that my three small children get the chance to learn about ED every single day from here to eternity in newspaper and magazine ads, television commercials, promotional items, soccer team sponsorships, movie product placements and other various marketing extravanganzas.

Posted by Dr. Craig Hildreth | link | Comments (0) |

Oh, darn. Now you need a prescription to get your drugs in China.

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (0) |

A new treatment for alcoholism: Vivitrex/Vivitrol.

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (0) |

Progress Against Breast Cancer - at a Cost

The F.D.A. has given approval for the oral medication letrozole to be used as an adjuvant hormone treatment for post-menopausal women with early-stage breast cancer.

Now both letrozole and its competitor anastrozole have been shown to improve relapse-free survival compared with the old standard of care, tamoxifen.

What's the downside, one might ask? In addition to increasing the risk of osteoporosis, these two newer drugs have another disadvantage - one that is not commonly mentioned in scientific articles, but is well-known in the world I happen to practice in:

They're quite expensive.

Posted by Dr. Craig Hildreth | link | Comments (6) |

It's all false: "The South Korean scientist who became a national hero over supposedly pioneering stem cell research fabricated all his data, experts decided today."

Posted by shrinkette | link | Comments (0) |

From the Oswego County Business, The Malpractice Mess: A Consumer's Opinion (emphasis mine):

I submit, and I hear the howls of disagreement already, that physicians are allowed too much leeway in treatment options. I submit that the establishment of detailed protocols for treatment—very detailed protocols—would eliminate a lot of lawsuits. If, for example, the protocols required a brain scan of any middle aged man suddenly presenting with severe headaches, we should see a corresponding decrease in neurology premiums. If detailed treatment protocol were developed, and followed, malpractice rates should drop accordingly.

It would take work. It would take agreement, and consensus. The courts, the insurance industry, the physicians, and their overseer organizations, would have to agree on the standard of care each group of symptoms merited. Someone within this group would have to be responsible for timely updates, as medical advances occurred. Physicians would need to be more responsible in the matter of continuing education, and staying abreast of new developments in their field. But should such protocols be established, and followed, then weeding out lawsuits without merit would be much easier. Plus, healthcare consumers could be assured a minimum standard of quality care, and stop worrying about their physician having a bad day or off moment, that might result in our death. Remarkably, we human lab rats would really, really like that.

One comment, one question; To my knowledge protocols and standards of care do not seem to prevent lawsuits, and who is going to pay? Also posted at RedStateMoron. O.K. you guys, have at it. Like when Kevin posts. Please...

Posted by RSM | link | Comments (11) |

Nurse Who Killed His Patients Can Donate Kidney, but He Must Get His Sentence First

Also posted on KidneyNotes.

From The New York Times:

A former nurse who pleaded guilty to killing 29 patients at hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania has received permission to donate a kidney to an acquaintance in New York, as long as he first appears at his own sentencing.

Technorati Tags: Kidney Transplantation, Transplantation, Charles Cullen

Posted by Joshua Schwimmer, MD, FACP, FASN | link | Comments (2) |

Good for them

From today's Wall Street Journal, Surgery Journal Threatens Ban for Authors' Hidden Conflicts (subscription required, emphases mine):

With conflicts of interest increasingly casting doubt on the credibility of medical research, a leading surgery journal is cracking down on authors who fail to disclose links to industry, threatening to temporarily blacklist them.

The surgical society that owns the journal approved the penalties for "future violations" after learning that researchers for two studies it published this year didn't reveal financial ties to the maker of heart-surgery equipment that they evaluated favorably.

The action comes as many medical journals struggle with the burgeoning links between researchers and industry. While some of the major medical journals started requiring financial disclosures in the 1980s, most publications didn't begin to ask about potential conflicts until the past decade. Some editors have complained it is hard to find reviewers and study authors who don't have potential conflicts of interest. Last year, the British medical journal Lancet said undisclosed conflicts of interest undermined a study it published that suggested childhood vaccinations could cause autism. Lancet said the study's lead author didn't disclose he was working on a study for lawyers considering legal action against vaccine makers.

Disclosing industry connections is critical because many physicians make treatment decisions based on data published in medical journals, and need to be able to evaluate their credibility. "Even though we believe the information in the study is sufficiently well-documented, they need to know that the person who authored the article may have a relationship with the company," says Catherine DeAngelis, editor in chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "I want you to make the decision on how trustworthy that information is."

Absolutely.

The banning of authors who fail to disclose conflicts is "pretty unusual," says Kevin Schulman, a professor of medicine and business administration at Duke University who has studied conflict policies at institutions and medical journals. At the same, Dr. Schulman says, the harsher sanction is "part of the maturation of the relationship between industry, academia and the journals. Basically there has been a constant movement over the last several years to really improve disclosure and to really improve independence."

Dr. DeAngelis says the new policy by the surgery journal is "pretty severe, but not outlandish." At JAMA, authors who fail to disclose relationships are not barred from publication, but their work receives extra scrutiny, she says.

As well it should. Medical school teaches skepticism, but studies published in major medical journals (such as NEJM, JAMA, BMJ, Lancet, etc) carry significant weight. A financial tie doesn't invalidate the work, but should be disclosed. If the work is good, what is the point of non-disclosure? Also posted at RedStateMoron.

Posted by RSM | link | Comments (0) |

Do you have boarders in your hospital?

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (9) |

Adding up the numbers of malpractice, with a twist.

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (0) |

Ethics blogging.

Dr. Maurice Bernstein's series on Human Dignity: Parts I, II, III, and IV.

And blog.bioethics.net analyzes the stem cell research scandal.

Posted by shrinkette | link | Comments (0) |

A woman accuses Letterman of using coded words and gestures to harass her.

Posted by shrinkette | link | Comments (0) |

Think that Medicine was easier in the 1970's? Think again.

Posted by shrinkette | link | Comments (0) |

An alternative to glasses, contacts or Lasik.

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (1) |

Yes, coffee is good for you. Red wine, too. Now, barley.

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (0) |

They Wouldn't Start Peddling Chocolate Covered Cigarettes, Would They?

"Dark Chocolate Helps Counter Heart Damage from Smoking"

"A new Swiss study [Swiss? That's like Greenland doing a study on snow...] finds a little dark chocolate each day could slow hardening of the arteries in smokers."

It appears that they had male smokers abstain from any food items rich in antioxidants for one day, then had them eat 1.5 ounces of either white or dark chocolate. Two hours later ultrasounds and blood tests showed that those who ingested the dark chocolate had higher levels of antioxidants, reduced platelet activity and "improved smoothness of the blood flow through the arteries." Not only that, an earlier study showed dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure.

"Get the wheelbarrow out, Mother - I'm going to the candy store to finally start taking care of myself!

"As long as I'm going I might as well pick up another carton of smokes, too."

[Editor's Note: 1.5 ounces of dark chocolate? Are they kidding me? That's how much I consume per minute. That's like tossing a Siberian tiger a cocktail wiener and saying "Bon appetit!" while running for one's life!]

Posted by Dr. Craig Hildreth | link | Comments (2) |

Proof that drug use is not a victimless crime.

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (0) |

On birth announcements

From today's Wall Street Journal, a thought provoking article (subscription only) on how a couple revealed the birth of their child with a disability, specifically Down syndrome:

For new parents, the birth announcement is a chance to define their child to the world. But when a child is born with a disability, parents often struggle to find the words. And today, with medical advances continuing and more educational and social opportunities for children with disabilities, it is even harder to know what to say since so much of what was previously understood has changed.

After Evan Messina was born, his parents decided they would refer to his condition by its medical term, Trisomy 21, since children are born with three, instead of two, copies of chromosome 21. They felt the name Down syndrome conjured negative stereotypes and that calling it Trisomy 21 might allow people to see their child in a different way.

"We are not denying it," says Ms. Lim Messina, 30, who is expecting their second child in the spring. But by "waiting to tell people until they have interacted with Evan," Mr. Messina adds, they think it diminishes the chances that their son will be treated differently because he has Down syndrome.

One November morning, Evan scooted on the floor of the Messinas' Cambridge, Mass., apartment. The Messinas were writing their annual Christmas letter again, and they debated what to say. Mr. Messina had just been asked to join the board of the Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based group. Mentioning this would require explaining why he was so concerned about Down syndrome -- and telling many people who hadn't first met Evan about his diagnosis. "I am ready to do it if it will help other children," Mr. Messina said.

Then, toward the end of the letter, came the words they had thought about for so long and chosen so carefully. "Evan was born with Trisomy 21, a genetic condition," they wrote. "He has three normal copies of his 21st chromosome, whereas most people have two. This is a fairly common condition, also known as Down syndrome."

I'll admit, I have never even thought about this issue until now (let's just assume that my Y chromosome got in the way...). For many parents, announcing the birth of a child with any disability (or birth defect) must be incredibly difficult. Personally I can understand the desire to keep the information private initially. But from a mental health perspective, I think it would be more advantageous to share the information up front. Or would that be bad advice? Also posted at RedStateMoron.

Posted by RSM | link | Comments (2) |

Grand Rounds; Volume 2, Number 14

Grand rounds is hosted this week by Matthew Holt at The Health Care Blog.

Welcome to Grand Rounds on THCB, the weekly round-up of all that is good and great in medical and health care blogging. This is a special edition as it’s the last of 2005 and so I’ve asked my fellow bloggers for their best posts of 2005. For some of them, like any great soccer player whose best goal is their last, their best post is their most recent. But for many we’ve gone back into the archives.

Posted by RSM | link | Comments (0) |

Immunization programs actually work.

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (0) |

"2005: The year in biology and medicine"

From stem cell research to suicidal grasshoppers, New Scientist links to the top medical news stories of the year.

Posted by shrinkette | link | Comments (0) |

"A difficult pregnancy"

``As far as we can find out,'' Lavin said, ``she's the only person in the world who has had'' two procedures to treat fibroids ``and got pregnant -- at least the only reported case we have been able to find.''

When Claudette and Danny Hopkins, who live in West Akron, were married two decades ago, they were in their early 20s. Like many young couples, they dreamed of starting a family. They tried and tried to conceive, but suffered one disappointment after another.

Then came the fertility evaluations and treatments. Claudette, a driver for the Akron Public Schools, endured shots, downed pills, went through artificial insemination. She had two surgeries to try to correct blocked fallopian tubes. At age 30, she was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome, a condition linked to obesity and infertility.

She reached her 40s, a time when a woman's chance of miscarriage hits 40 percent. By then, she also had developed severe symptoms from large uterine fibroids -- benign tumors that can cause extensive, chronic bleeding and impair fertility.

In November 2004, because of the fibroids, Hopkins underwent endometrial ablation, a surgery that removes most of the lining of the uterus to try to prevent fibroid bleeding.

The ablation didn't work, Lavin said, so a month later, Claudette underwent fibroid embolization, a procedure in which radioactive dye is injected into uterine blood vessels. That procedure is known to cause a 20 percent to 25 percent pregnancy-loss rate.

Then she gets pregnant....without assisted reprodcutive technology.

In May, Claudette's care was referred to Lavin, who specializes in high-risk cases. He placed her on bed rest in August.

Claudette had weekly prenatal visits with Lavin and his partner, Dr. Stephen Crane. She had extensive monitoring to check the baby's heart rate and growth and received weekly progesterone shots to prevent premature labor. Her cervix was stitched closed.

From the moment Claudette awoke in the morning until she fell asleep at night, she felt nauseated and weak -- and that lasted throughout her pregnancy. Because she had undergone gastric-bypass surgery several years earlier, she had a hard time eating enough to gain weight. She also had hypertension and a large fibroid, which the doctors watched carefully. And she was 44 years old.

``It was certainly a complicated case,'' said Lavin, who is writing a journal article about it.

That might be the understatement of the year. Crossed linked at RedStateMoron.

Posted by RSM | link | Comments (0) |

"Aw, Mom - Do I Hafta Wear a Coat?"

"Mothers and grandmothers have long warned that chilling the surface of the body, through wet clothes, feet and hair, causes common cold symptoms to develop."

Oh, no - don't tell me that scientists have finally shown that Mom was right to yell at us for running around outside with only a "light jacket" on!

"Now researchers in Cardiff, Wales, say they can prove drops in temperature to the body really can cause a cold to develop."

Professor Ron Eccles, one of the researchers who conducted the successful experiment, said "When colds are circulating in the community many people are mildly infected but show no symptoms. If they become chilled this causes a pronounced constriction of the blood vessels in the nose and shuts off the warm blood that supplies the white cells that fight infection."

This impaired delivery of virus-killing leukocytes permits the infection to proliferate and produce the symptoms of the common cold.

Not only that, but Professor Eccles remarks that "cooling of the nose slows down clearance of viruses from the nose and slows down the white cells that fight infection."

But if I wear a stocking cap I get hat hair and all the gang laughs at me!

I guess Big Pharma can sleep well tonight, knowing that the market for cold remedies is not going to dry up, if you catch my drift.

Posted by Dr. Craig Hildreth | link | Comments (1) |

Happy Holidays!

Also posted on KidneyNotes.

Happy Holidays!

Today's link is Simon Sez Santa, a close relative of Subservient Chicken.

Posted by Joshua Schwimmer, MD, FACP, FASN | link | Comments (0) |

Rivals Laying Siege to Amgen's Near Monopoly in Anemia Drugs

Also posted on KidneyNotes.

From The New York Times:

For years, the biotechnology giant Amgen has wielded a near monopoly over its industry's most lucrative franchise, the anemia drugs on which hundreds of thousands of American kidney and cancer patients and their insurers spend billions of dollars each year. But now, Amgen's money machine is coming under attack.

A host of companies - ranging from the Swiss giant Roche to Silicon Valley start-ups - are developing anemia drugs to compete against Epogen and Aranesp, the blockbusters that will account for nearly half of Amgen's expected $12 billion in revenues this year.

Technorati Tags: Amgen, Aranesp, Epoetin, Procrit, Roche, CERA

Posted by Joshua Schwimmer, MD, FACP, FASN | link | Comments (0) |

Indian Police Defend Doctor Who Removed Kidney During Appendectomy

Also posted on KidneyNotes.

Via The Indian Express:

Thirty-year-old Surendra Das, a rickshaw-puller, died on Friday night after remaining on dialysis for 20 days. This was after a doctor near his village in Munhar allegedly took out his lone kidney while removing his appendix.

Police, however, say Dr R P Gupta did it unknowingly...

Technorati Tags: Kidneys, Kidney Transplantation, India

Posted by Joshua Schwimmer, MD, FACP, FASN | link | Comments (3) |

P.T. Barnum, Call Your Office!

"Twentysomethings Seeking Eternal Youth"

Excuse me while I direct the Choir of the Middle-Aged in our choral response to all the young people out there spending their hard-earned dollars on anti-aging creams and potions (takes the podium and raises his baton):

"Har de har har!!"


Speaking from experience I can offer an alternative strategy to the young hipsters out there who are concerned about how their faces and bodies are going to look as they age:

Get used to it. Those who died young would probably gladly exchange places with you.

Posted by Dr. Craig Hildreth | link | Comments (2) |

Christmas Day, 2009: "Just a carrot for me, please."

Stanford University researchers have identified a hormone that supresses appetite!

Named "obestatin" (how apropos), when injected into rats it supressed their food intake. [How'd you like to be the graduate student assigned to collect those data?]

One expert, though, is sounding a note of caution on these exciting findings:


Now there's a novel idea - prescribe a hormone for overweight patients that makes them sick and vomit. We oncologists certainly agree that this strategy works; in fact in our universe we see it every day.

We call it cancer.

In case you still think you can eat anything you want and weigh as much as you can possibly fit on your human frame, pehaps you should read this. Then go and read this.

Posted by Dr. Craig Hildreth | link | Comments (2) |

"Bittersweet season"

On the last office day before Christmas, Medpundit's patient is suicidal. Where are the psychiatrists? I'll tell you where I was yesterday: in my office, working. But I saw no one who was suicidal. I spent hours trying to contact patients with abnormal lab test results. It might have been better if Sydney and I had switched places...

Suicides don't actually peak in December, as Maria notes in the comments. MSM seems to be catching on to this fact, according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center. But suicidal patients are challenging for physicians in any season. More on this problem here.

(-cross-posted at shrinkette.)

Posted by shrinkette | link | Comments (0) |

A Classic Poker Showdown, or Finagling the Rules?

"Why don't researchers and drug companies come up with better treatments for cancer?"

Readers with five minutes to spare and an interest in what the answer is to this question should read this well-written article from The New York Times:

"New Drug Points Up Problems in Developing Cancer Cures"

The labor involved in finding, then developing, then approving a new chemotherapy drug or biological agent that is a real advancement is like betting in a game of poker. One is more likely to bet the whole pile when holding a great hand (promising new anti-cancer agent), but until one sees what the other player (cancer) has, the win (successful outcome) is not guaranteed.

Unlike poker, however, in oncology we don't restrict ourselves to winner-take-all rules. There are several ways to "win", or experience a better outcome than if no treatment was ever given, even if cure is not possible. These rules, if used in a poker game, would require the player with the better hand to split the pot with the loser. Examples of outcomes that are less than cure but still can provide meaningful palliation to patients include:

Prolonging the time until the tumor begins to increase in size, or cause symptoms

Stopping the tumor from growing or appearing in new areas of the body

Reducing the noxious symptoms caused by the cancer

Living longer after taking treatment than those who never took any treatment for their cancer

Getting more effective treatments approved is a frustrating wait for patients, loved ones and all involved in the care of people living with cancer, partly because the bigwigs in charge have continued to insist upon rigid "winner-takes-all" outcomes when considering the efficacy of a new agent. This article explains why.

Posted by Dr. Craig Hildreth | link | Comments (0) |

Habituation

A soon to be father uttered this comment yesterday while watching an ultrasound:

"I've seen at a lot of things in my life, but nothing like this..."

I'm not sure why his comment caught me by surprise. Every day a patient and/or a family member or friend will say something about how "amazing" it (the ability to see inside the uterus) is...and if I ever stop long enough to think about it, I realize that she/he/they are right. Ultrasound is an amazing technology. And the images we have the privilege to witness, that of a developing life, are particularly strong. Yet it troubles me that I forget how privileged I am. Via Wikipedia:

Habituation is frequently used in testing psychological phenomenon. Both infants and adults look less and less as a result of consistent exposure to a particular stimulus. The amount of time spent looking to a presented alternate stimulus (after habituation to the initial stimulus) is indicative of the strength of the remembered percept of the previous stimulus.

Habituation, or burnout? Cross linked at RedStateMoron.

Posted by RSM | link | Comments (0) |

Today in history

Spending the next 22 hours in labor y partos, currently listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas (the melancholy fits the mood of the day), and this caught my eye;

You are standing up to your knees in the slime of a waterlogged trench. It is the evening of 24 December 1914 and you are on the dreaded Western Front.

Stooped over, you wade across to the firing step and take over the watch. Having exchanged pleasantries, your bleary-eyed and mud-spattered colleague shuffles off towards his dug out. Despite the horrors and the hardships, your morale is high and you believe that in the New Year the nation's army march towards a glorious victory.

But for now you stamp your feet in a vain attempt to keep warm. All is quiet when jovial voices call out from both friendly and enemy trenches. Then the men from both sides start singing carols and songs. Next come requests not to fire, and soon the unthinkable happens: you start to see the shadowy shapes of soldiers gathering together in no-man's land laughing, joking and sharing gifts.

Many have exchanged cigarettes, the lit ends of which burn brightly in the inky darkness. Plucking up your courage, you haul yourself up and out of the trench and walk towards the foe...

Posted by RSM | link | Comments (0) |

For your holiday reading pleasure.

Posted by DrTony | link | Comments (0) |